Methods and apparatus for adapting a hop sequence when establishing a communication connection

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus are provided for establishing a connection between a scanner device and a pager device over a sequence of hop channels. The scanner device is repetitively activated and a hop channel is selected from the sequence of hop channels as a function of a present phase. A determination is made as to whether the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel. A substitute hop channel is selected from the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel if the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel. The selected hop channel is monitored for receipt of a paging message during the present phase.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to communication systems in whichtransmitters and receivers hop frequencies while communicating. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to adapting hop sequences ina frequency hopping communication system.

BACKGROUND

In the last decades, progress in radio and VLSI technology has fosteredwidespread use of wireless communication in consumer applications. Boththe quantity and variety of types of wireless communication devices hasbeen fostered by the availability of unlicensed communication bands,such as the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) radio band at 2.45GHz, which may be available almost globally. The ISM band provides 83.5MHz of radio spectrum.

The widespread use of wireless communication devices, especiallyconcentrated in the ISM band, may sometimes lead to interfering radiosignals between groups of communicating devices or with other radiotransmission devices. One way to reduce the affect of interfering radiosignals is to spread communication signals across a radio band. The FCCin the United States currently requires radio equipment operating in the2.45 GHz band to apply some form of signal spreading when the transmitpower exceeds about 0 dBm. Known forms of signal spreading includesymbol level spreading, such as applying direct-sequence (DS) spreadspectrum, and channel level spreading, such as frequency hopping (FH)spread spectrum.

In frequency hopping systems, spreading is provided by transmitting theinformation data stream over radio frequencies that vary in apredetermined manner for each transmission. One such industry standardsystem is known as Bluetooth, which was introduced to provide deviceconnectivity, especially among portable devices, like mobile phones,laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other mobile devices.The Bluetooth devices use frequency hopping and may support both dataand voice communications. More particularly, Bluetooth devices thatsupport voice transmissions may use both frequency hopping and robustvoice coding. One example of such frequency hopping includes a nominalhopping rate of 800 hops/second through the 2.45 GHz ISM radio band.

Devices based on the Bluetooth system concept can create so calledpiconets, which comprise a master device and one or more slave devicesthat communicate via FH piconet channels. Devices communicating on a FHpiconet may hop between channels according to a hop sequence that may bedefined by the address or identity of the device acting as the master.While communicating, devices may remain synchronized by hopping amongthe same channel sequence and at the same phase, or location, within thesequence.

The phase of the communicating devices may be synchronized with a sharedclock reference. Bluetooth devices may each have their own free-runningsystem clock which may be synchronized when a communication link isestablished. For example, a slave device may add a time offset to itsclock such that it becomes aligned with the clock of the master device.By using the master address to select the proper hopping sequence and byusing the time offset to align to the master clock, the slave device maykeep in hop synchrony to the master device. Such communication isfurther described in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/932,911, filed Sep. 18, 1997 in the name of J. C. Haartsen andentitled “Frequency Hopping Piconets in an Uncoordinated WirelessMulti-User System,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Further reference is made to the commonly owned U.S. Pat.No. 6,108,366 issued on Aug. 22, 2000, which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. Further reference is made tocommonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/418,562, filed onOct. 15, 1999 in the name of J. C. Haartsen and entitled “Method andapparatus for sequence adaptation,” which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

Communication between two or more devices may be established by onedevice transmitting a paging message to another device. Upon receivingthe paging message, the receiving device may transmit a response to thepaging device so that the devices may form a synchronized FHcommunication link.

Establishing a FH communication link may be complicated or delayed whenone of the communication devices to be paged is capable of switchingbetween a scanning mode, in which it scans for a paging message, and asleep mode, in which paging messages may not be received. Such receivingdevices periodically awake from the sleep mode to scan for any pagingmessages from a paging device (i.e., master device). With many suchcommunication devices, the paging devices may not know when and on whathop channel the paged device will listen for paging messages. Moreover,the presence of interference may prevent the paged device from receivinga paging message even when it is transmitted on the same hop channel onwhich the paged device is listening.

The operations for establishing a communication link between Bluetoothdevices has been described in the commonly owned U.S. Pat. No.5,940,431, issued on Aug. 17, 1999, and the commonly owned U.S. Pat. No.6,389,057, issued on May 14, 2002, both of which are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to embodiments of the present invention a method is providedfor establishing a connection between a scanner device and a pagerdevice over a sequence of hop channels. The scanner device isrepetitively activated and a hop channel is selected from the sequenceof hop channels as a function of a present phase. A determination ismade as to whether the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel.A substitute hop channel is selected from the sequence of hop channelsas the selected hop channel if the selected hop channel is a forbiddenhop channel. The selected hop channel is monitored for receipt of apaging message during the present phase.

In other embodiments, interference on a selected channel may bemonitored and a selected channel may be determined to be a forbidden hopchannel when the interference exceeds a threshold value. In response tothe interference determination the selected hop channel may be includedin a set of forbidden hop channels or may be removed from the set. Inother embodiments, a selected hop channel may be compared to a set offorbidden hop channels to determine whether it is allowable orforbidden.

In other embodiments, a substitute hop channel may be selected among asequence of hop channels using a time-varying parameter such as a clockvalue, a randomly selected value, pseudo-randomly selected value, or anon-random value or a time-fixed relationship between a forbidden hopchannel and a substitute hop channel may be used.

In this manner methods and apparatus may be provided that allow ascanner device to determine whether a hop channel is forbidden orallowable and to avoid monitoring forbidden hop channels for pagingmessages. Communication links with a paging device may be establishedmore quickly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a frequency hoping communication deviceaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts exemplary hop carriers in the ISM band.

FIG. 3 is a timing diagram for establishing a connection between twocommunication devices according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 4( a) and 4(b) depict exemplary hop carriers in the ISM band withnarrowband interference and with interfered carriers removed,respectively.

FIGS. 5( a) and 5(b) depict exemplary hop carriers in the ISM band withwideband interference and with interfered carriers removed,respectively.

FIG. 6 is a table showing allowed and forbidden channels in a sequenceof hop channels.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a hop selection circuit according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of operations for selecting substitute channelsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The present invention will now be described more fully with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which typical embodiments of the inventionare shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many differentforms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments setforth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that thisdisclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey thescope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers referto like elements throughout.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, apparatus andmethods for adapting hop sequences during the establishment of aconnection between frequency hopping communication devices may beprovided. FIGS. 1-8 illustrate exemplary apparatus and operationsaccording to various embodiments of the present invention. It will beunderstood that operations depicted in the figures, and combinationsthereof, may be implemented using one or more electronic circuits, suchas in one or more discrete electronic components, one or more integratedcircuits (ICs) and/or one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs) and/or application specific circuit modules, as well asby computer program instructions, which may be executed by a computer orother data processing apparatus, such as a microprocessor or digitalsignal processor (DSP).

The computer program instructions may also be embodied in the form of acomputer program product in a computer-readable storage medium, i.e., ascomputer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system. The computer-readablestorage medium may include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic,optical or other storage media, such as a magnetic or optical disk or anintegrated circuit memory device. Accordingly, FIGS. 1-8 supportelectronic circuits and other apparatus that perform the specifiedoperations, and acts for performing the specified operations.

The terms “comprises” or “comprising” when used in this specificationare taken to specify the presence of stated features, elements, steps,or components but do not preclude the presence or addition of one ormore other features, elements, steps, components or groups thereof.

Further, the term “communication device” as used herein may include, butis not limited to, a Bluetooth device, a wireless local area network(WLAN) device such as compliant with IEEE 802.11, a cellular terminal; apersonal communication device that may combine wireless communicationability with data processing, facsimile, data communicationscapabilities and/or global positioning system (GPS) receiver; a personaldigital assistant (PDA) that may include wireless communication ability;a pager; satellite communications equipment; and infrastructureequipment with wireless communication ability; or any devices that maycommunicate through other equipment that provides wireless communicationability.

A frequency-hopping (FH) communication device 100 according toembodiments of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. Thecommunication device 100 includes an antenna 110, a transceiver 120, anda processor 130. The processor 130 provides an information signal to thetransceiver 120 for transmission. The transceiver 120 may code,modulate, and upconvert the information signal to a hop channel, andtransmit the signal via the antenna 110 to another communication device.Likewise, the transceiver 120 may receive, downconvert, demodulate, anddecode a signal received on a hop channel to provide information to theprocessor 130.

The communication device 100 may transmit and receive signals onsequences of time-varying hop channels within a band of hop channels.The sequence of channels among which communications hop may be selectedin a random, pseudorandom, and/or sequential manner. For Bluetooth andIEEE 802.11 WLAN communication devices, a random or pseudo-random hopsequence may be required for compliance with the respective industryspecifications.

The communication device 100 may use the unlicensed ISM band at 2.45GHz, which is illustrated in FIG. 2. The ISM band can provide 83.5 MHzof spectrum which can be divided into 79 communication channels equallyspaced by 1 MHz. The first and last hop channels can be provided at 2402MHz and 2480 MHz, respectively, as shown in FIG. 2. As a so-calledrelaxed radio transmitter design choice, the communication device 100might not use hop channels at the edges of the band to satisfy FCCrequirements on out-of-band spurious transmissions. The 79 channels forma set of hop channels, which the communication device 100 may hop amongwhile communicating with other communication devices.

Each such communication device may further include, for example in theprocessor 130, a set of hop sequences, a unique address for thecommunication device, and a clock. The address or other uniqueidentifier may be used to select a hop sequence among the set of hopsequences and the clock may be used to determine the phase in thesequence, that is, which particular hop of the sequence is selected at aparticular time. Two or more FH communication devices may form asynchronized communication link by selecting the same hop sequence andphase. Selection of the same hop sequence and phase may be provided bysharing an address code and clock indication (i.e., clock value),respectively, among the communicating communication devices.

The communication devices may switch between a sleep mode, in which thedevices do not receive paging messages, and a scanning mode, in whichthe devices scan for paging messages. In the sleep mode, a portion ofthe communication device 100, such as the transceiver 120, may bepowered-down or off to conserve power and no messages may be received ortransmitted. Power may be further conserved by remaining predominatelyin the sleep mode. For example, such communication devices may cyclebetween the sleep mode and the scanning mode with a duty cycle ratio ofa few percent (i.e., scanning-time/sleep-time). Such mode switching cancomplicate the initial synchronization of two or more FH communicationdevices. In particular, when a communication device is in the sleep modefor a particularly long time, the time delay associated withestablishing a connection can become correspondingly long.

FIG. 3 illustrates conventional operations that may be performed by twoor more communication devices to establish a FH communication link. Thecommunication device that seeks to establish a communication link isreferred to as the pager device 300 and the communication device that isbeing paged is referred to as the scanner device 302. Although onescanner device 302 is shown, communication links between a pager deviceand a plurality of scanner devices may be established in the mannerdescribed herein.

The scanner device 302 periodically wakes from a sleep mode and selectsa hop channel within a hop sequence to scan 310 for a paging messagecontaining the address of the scanner device 302. The hop sequence may,for example, contain 32 pseudo-random selected hop channels defined bythe address of the scanner device 302. Each time the scanner device 302switches to the scanning mode, it sequences using an index to the nexthop channel in the sequence to listen for a paging message.

The time interval between such scans (“T_SCAN”) may, for example, be1.28 seconds, although the scans 310 can be performed at faster orslower rates. The time duration of each scan 310 to look for a pagingmessage may be much shorter (for example, 11 ms) than the time intervalbetween scans. When a 1.28s interval is provided between scans, thescanner device 302 may take 41 seconds to scan 32 hop channels (i.e.,32×1.28s).

The pager device 300 may determine the hop sequence from the address ofthe intended scanner device 302 but may not accurately know, or perhapsnot have any knowledge of, the present phase of the scanner device 302in the hop sequence. The pager device 300 consecutively transmits a pagemessage within a paging window 304, containing the address or anotherunique identifier of the scanner device 302, on different hop channelsselected from the hop sequence of the scanner device 302.

For Bluetooth devices, the page message within the window 304 may, forexample, comprise a short binary bit sequence, such as a 68 bit lengthcode. In a 10 ms period the pager device 300 may transmit the same pagemessage on 16 different hop channels, which corresponds to half of thesequence of hop channels scanned by the scanner device 302. The half ofthe sequence of hop channels may be referred to as “Train A”.

Recent FCC regulations for communication in the ISM band require the useof at least 15 channels in a hop sequence. However, when allowed bygovernmental regulations, smaller subsets of a hop sequence may be used.

The pager device 300 may transmit the page message on the 16 hopchannels for the expected duration of the standby period of the scannerdevice 302 (T_SCAN) which may be 1.28 seconds. If the scanner device 302switches from the sleep mode to the scanning mode in any of these 16 hopchannels, such as shown by the scan 320, it may receive the pagemessage, shown as a “HIT”, and respond with a page response messagewithin a response window 306 to the pager device 300. However, when thepager device 300 does not receive a page response message to its pagemessages transmitted in the Train A after a time corresponding to thestandby time T_SCAN, the pager device 300 may begin transmitting thepage message consecutively on the hop channels in the other 16 channelhalf of the 32 channel hop sequence (referred to as “Train B”).

Upon receiving the page response message, the pager device 300 may abortthe paging sequence and begin exchanging messages at a higher hop rate,such as 800 hops/s, with the scanner device 302. The pager device 300and scanner device 302 may use timing of the page message to synchronizethe phase and provide a synchronized FH communication link connectiontherebetween. Alternative or additionally, the pager device 300 andscanner device 302 may exchange other information, such as another hopsequence selection value and/or phase, to synchronize the communicationlink. Once a synchronized communication link is established, the pagerdevice 300 may become a master device and the scanner device 302 maybecome a slave device. The master device may control communicationexchanges with one or more connected slave devices.

When the pager device 300 can estimate the phase of the scanner device302, it may establish a connection more quickly by selecting a portionof the sequence of hop channels used by the scanner device 302 (i.e., 16of the 32 hop channels) which are about equally distributed ahead-of andbehind the estimated phase. For example, assume a hop sequencerepresented by F(k) where k is a modulo-32 clock value. Assume also thatthe pager device 300 estimates the clock value of the scanner device 302as k_est. The pager device 300 may transmit the page message on hopchannels F(k_est−8), F(k_est−7), . . . , F(k_est−1), F(k_est),F(k_est+1), . . . , F(k_est+7). In this manner, the page message may bereceived by the scanner device 302 when the estimated phase is wrong byan offset between −8 and +7 in the sequence of hop channels. If noresponse is received from the 16 channel paging train, F(k_est−8) toF(k_est+7), the other train may be selected. In some embodiments of thepresent invention it may be advantageous for an A train and a B train tooverlap with one common hop channel because the pager device 300 maychange trains at the same phase rate as the scanner device 302 changesits scan frequency.

When the scanner device 302 is scanning hop channels for a pagingmessage, interference on the hop channels from other devices may preventreception of the paging message and cause delay in the establishment ofa connection with the pager device 300. The number of wirelesscommunication devices has been rapidly increasing and the increase hasbeen particularly rapid in the unlicensed communication bands, such asthe ISM band. Such devices include baby monitors, garage door openers,identification (ID) devices, and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)devices.

FIG. 4( a) illustrates a situation where narrowband interference ispresent on hop channels 2403, 2406, and 2478. FIG. 5( a) illustrates asituation where wideband interference is present across hop channels2404 to 2409. If the occupied hop channels are in the sequence ofchannels scanned by the scanner device 302, a paging message may not bereceived and establishment of a connection may be delayed until at leastthe next scan. If the next scan also occurs on an occupied hop channel,the delay is cumulative and the overall delay may become unacceptablylong.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the scannerdevice 302 removes interfered/occupied/reserved channels from thescanned hop sequence and substitutes other hop channels in their place.For example, as shown in FIG. 4( b), channels 2403, 2406, and 2478 areremoved. As shown in FIG. 5( b), channels 2404-2409 are removed from hopsequences.

In a conventional Bluetooth system, a communication device in a scannermode may scan 32 hop channels covering about 64 MHz of bandwidth forpage messages. According to some embodiments of the present invention,by monitoring interference levels on the 32 channels, the communicationdevice may determine which channels are interfered/occupied and lesslikely to be capable of providing a paging message or being used tocarry other messages relating to establishing a communication link withanother communication device. The communication device may obtain apaging message more quickly by not waiting for page messages oninterfered channels. For example, the communication device may designate17 of the 32 channels as unusable or forbidden, and thereby, reduce thebandwidth scanned for paging messages from 64 MHz to 30 MHz.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the scanner device 302 canmaintain a list of allowed channels and forbidden channels in a hopsequence used for scanning. An example list is shown in FIG. 6, in whichthe hop sequence spans from channel G(0) to G(7). Although a sequence ofeight channels has been shown for illustration purposes any length hopsequence may be used. As shown, two of the hop channels, G(2) and G(3),are forbidden. The forbidden channels should be avoided while scanningfor paging message for any of a number of reasons. For example, theforbidden channels may correspond to where a substantial amount ofinterference has been detected. It may also be the case that one or morehop channels are known to be “reserved” for use by another system, sothat the scanner device 302 can avoid experiencing interference byavoiding those channels. Similarly, a nearby system may be required toprovide a high priority/high quality service via one or more hopchannels. In this case, a communication device may skip those channelsto avoid causing interference and possibly disturbing the nearby system.

It will also be recognized that the designation of a hop channel asalternatively “forbidden” or “allowed” need not be static, but caninstead be determined and changed dynamically. According to someembodiments of the present invention, the scanner device 302 may sensethe amount of interference on individual hop channels in the hopsequence and, when the interference exceeds a threshold value, it maylabel the channel forbidden. The sensing may include measuring anindication of the received signal strength when a paging message is notbeing directed to the scanner device 302. Similarly, when the amount ofinterference is below a threshold value, the scanner device 302 maychange a previously labeled forbidden channel to an allowed channel.Interference may be sensed periodically, such as with a scan processand/or independent from the scan process, or performed non-periodically.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the scannerdevice 302 may measure the amount of interference on a hop channel, todetermine whether it is allowable, while it is scanning for a pagingmessage on the hop channel. The page message may comprise a binarysequence that is derived from the address of the scanner device 302.Upon receiving a page message, the scanner device 302 may compare (i.e.,correlate) its address with the address represented by the page message.When a threshold number of bits match between the two addresses, thepage message may be determined to be intended for the scanner device302. In this manner, an exact match may not be necessary to make thedetermination. The closeness of the comparison may also indicate theamount of interference on the scanned hop channel. When the closeness ofthe comparison is outside a threshold range, such as when less than alower threshold number of bits match, the scanned hop channel may bedetermined to have an unacceptable amount of interference and thescanned channel may be labeled a forbidden channel. Other channelinterference detection (quality detection) techniques may be applied aswill be apparent to those who are skilled in the art. For example,techniques based on soft information derived from, for example, maximumlikelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) or forward-error-correctioncoding, may be used to determine the quality of a channel.

When a hop channel has been determined to be a forbidden channel, it ispossible, and perhaps likely, that the adjacent channels contain anunacceptable amount of interference. Consequently, the scanner device302 may designate as forbidden, the channel(s) that are adjacent to ahop channel that has been determined, or otherwise designated, aforbidden hop channel. The number of adjacent channels that aredesignated as forbidden may be determined, for example, by the number ofallowable scanning channels, and a minimum number of scanning channelsthat may required (such as by governmental regulations) for the systemand/or may be determined by any known, or detectable, correlation of theinterference found on a forbidden channel and adjacent channels.

A list of forbidden channels may also be provided to the scanner device302 from another communication device, synchronized with a list inanother device, such as a pager device, or may be preloaded therein.

Hop selection may be provided by a hop selection circuit 700 as shown inFIG. 7 according to embodiments of the present invention. The hopselection circuit 700 includes a hop selector circuit 710 and a hopsubstitution circuit 720. The hop selector circuit 710 receives anaddress from which it selects a hop channel sequence from a set of hopchannel sequences and receives a clock value from which a phase in thechannel sequence is determined. In some embodiments, hop selection bythe hop selector circuit 710 may be performed in a manner consistentwith conventional FH communication devices, such as Bluetooth. The hopselector circuit 710 outputs a selected hop channel to the hopsubstitution circuit 720, where the selected hop channel is compared toa list of forbidden hop channels and, when the selected channel isforbidden a substitute channel is selected. As will be appreciated, thehop selection circuits 700 may be performed within the processor 130and/or in other separate circuitry.

Example operations for selecting and substituting hop channels accordingto some embodiments of the present invention are shown in FIG. 8 anddiscussed with reference to the channel sequence table shown in FIG. 6.At Block 800 a hop channel is elected as a function of the hop sequenceand phase within the sequence. For example, when the phase is 3, theselected hop channel is G(3). The selected hop channel is compared tothe list of hop channels, FIG. 6, and a decision is made at Block 810whether the selected hop channel is allowed or forbidden.

When allowed, the selected hop channel is used at Block 840 to scan fora paging message. When forbidden, such as determined for G(3), an indexto a substitute hop channel is formed at Block 820. In some embodiments,the index may be provided by the following equation:Index=(Clock_Value modulo N)+Base_Value,where “Clock_Value” is a clock signal, N is the number of channels inthe hop sequence, and Base_Value is related to the first hop channel inthe set of hop channels (i.e., 0 for the example sequence in FIG. 6 ofthat begins with G(0)).

For example, when the Clock_Value is 37, an index value if formed by (37modulo 8+0) which is 5. A substitute hop channel is set as the tableindex value at Block 830. Whether the substitute hop channel isallowable is checked at Block 810 and, when allowable, is used at Block840. Since G(5) is an allowable hop channel, it is used as a substitutechannel to scan for a page message. When the substitute hop channel isforbidden, the operations of Blocks 820-840 are repeated to selectanother substitute hop channel.

In other embodiments, the substitute hop channel formed at Block 830 ispassed directly to Block 840 for use without returning to Block 810 tocheck whether it is an allowable or forbidden channel. Those embodimentsmay be advantageous when a small number of interfering channels mayexist relative to the length of the channel sequence and the likelihoodof two consecutively selected forbidden substitute channels issufficiently small.

In other embodiments, at Block 820, the index value to the substitutehop channel may be formed by a clock value, a random time-varying value,a pseudorandom time-varying value, and/or a non-random time-varyingvalue relative to a designated channel in the sequence of hop channels.In other embodiments, a time-fixed (not changed during a connectionestablishment operation) mapping between a forbidden hop channel and asubstitute hop channel may be provided. However, the randomness of theselection of channels by FH communication devices is often preferred andis sometimes even mandated by governmental regulations. The randomnesswith which substitute channels may be selected may be related to therelative number of different values used to select substitute channelscompared to the number of channels N. For example, if the number of theclock signal values or time-varying values is less than N−1, thencertain hop channels will be selected for use as substitute hop channelsmore frequently than others.

In other embodiments, when the pager device 300 transmits pagingmessages on a channel train (such as was described earlier), the scannerdevice 302 may restrict the selection of substitute hop channels towithin the channel train. For example, the pager device 300 may scan aportion of the sequence of hop channels used by the scanner device 302which are about equally distributed ahead-of and behind an estimatedphase of the scanner device 302 (e.g., scanning within an A train, 16 ofthe 32 hop channels). The pager device 300 may transmit the page messageon hop channels F(k_est−8), F(k_est−7), . . . , F(k_est−1), F(k_est),F(k_est+1), . . . , F(k_est+7) based on an estimated clock (k_est) ofthe scanning device 302. Since k_est changes every scan, so do thecontents of the 16-carrier trains. The trains may overlap by onecarrier: taking the two trains together, one carrier out of the 32-hopscanning sequence is not present, and one carrier is present twice. Theoverlap can be a consequence of the pager device 300 changing trains atthe same pace as the scanner device 302 changing k_est.

To exploit the train behavior of the pager device 300, the scannerdevice 302 may restrict its selection of substitute hop channels (when aselected hop channel is determined to be forbidden) to channels in trainA only. For example, when the modulo-32 clock value of the scannerdevice 302 is k_est, and if the selected channel G(k_est) is forbidden,the substitute channel should ideally be selected from within theallowed frequencies in the train adjacent to G(k_est), from G(k_est −8)to G(k_est+7) excluding all forbidden channels. However, the scannerdevice 302 does not know which estimate k_est the pager device 300 isusing. Thus, k_est is not known by the scanner device 302, and is thepager device's 300 best guess of the current clock k_scan in the scannerdevice 302. The scanner device 302 should select a substitute channelfrom G(k_scan−8) to G(k_scan+7) excluding all forbidden channels. Ask_est progresses with time, the content of train A changes.

As a further example, when the hop sequence consists of 8 channels, thetwo trains each consist of 4 channels. When the clock value (modulo-8)of the scanner device 302 is k_est, train A will be G(k_scan −2),G(k_scan −1), G(k_scan), G(k_scan +1), (where G(k_scan)=G(k_scan modulo8)). Assume that channels G(2) and G(3) are forbidden. If k_scan=34,G(2), the selected channel is forbidden. The substitute channel isselected pseudo-randomly from one of the following channels: G(0), G(1),and G(3). Since G(3) is also forbidden, only G(0) and G(1) can beselected as a substitute channel. When no page message is received,another scanning channel is selected at the next scan instance,k_scan=35, so G(3) is initially chosen. The selected channel G(3) isdetermined to be forbidden. Because G(2) is also forbidden, the A traincontains G(1) and G(4) as allowable channels that can be chosen assubstitute channels.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed typicalembodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth inthe following claims.

1. A method for establishing a connection by a scanner device to apaging device over a sequence of hop channels, the method comprising thesteps of repeatedly activating the scanner device; selecting by thescanner device a hop channel from the sequence of hop channels as afunction of a present phase when the scanner device is activated;determining by the scanner device whether the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel; selecting by the scanner device a substitute hopchannel from the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel ifthe selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, wherein thesubstitute hop channel is selected using a time-varying parameter;monitoring by the scanner device the selected hop channel for receipt ofa paging message from the paging device during the present phase;establishing a connection from the scanner device to the paging devicein response to receipt of the paging message; and wherein selecting asubstitute hop channel comprises forming an index value from thetime-varying parameter and selecting the substitute hop channel from thesequence of hop channels using the index value, wherein the index valueis formed from the expression: index value=(the time-varying parametermodulo N)+BASE_VALUE, where N is the number of hop channels in thesequence of hop channels and BASE_VALUE represents an index value of afirst hop channel in the sequence of hop channels.
 2. A method forestablishing a connection by a scanner device to a paging device over asequence of hop channels, the method comprising the steps of repeatedlyactivating the scanner device; selecting by the scanner device a hopchannel from the sequence of hop channels as a function of a presentphase when the scanner device is activated; determining by the scannerdevice whether the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel;selecting by the scanner device a substitute hop channel from thesequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel if the selected hopchannel is a forbidden hop channel, wherein the substitute hop channelis selected using a time-varying parameter, forming an index value fromthe time-varying parameter and selecting the substitute hop channel fromthe sequence of hop channels using the index value; and whereinselecting a substitute hop channel comprises: designating one of the hopchannels in the sequence of hop channels as a first hop channel; andselecting by the scanner device a hop channel that corresponds to theindex value relative to the first hop channel for use as the substitutehop channel; monitoring by the scanner device the selected hop channelfor receipt of a paging message from the paging device during thepresent phase; and establishing by the scanner device a connection fromthe scanner device to the paging device in response to receipt of thepaging message.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first hop channelis a designated one of the hop channels in the sequence of hop channels.4. A method for establishing a connection by a scanner device to apaging device over a sequence of hop channels, the method comprising thesteps of repeatedly activating the scanner device; selecting by thescanner device a hop channel from the sequence of hop channels as afunction of a present phase when the scanner device is activated;determining by the scanner device whether the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel; selecting by the scanner device a substitute hopchannel from the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel ifthe selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel; wherein theselecting a hop channel from the sequence of hop channels comprises thesteps of: designating a portion of the sequence of hop channels adjacentto a forbidden hop channel; and selecting a substitute hop channel fromthe designated portion of the sequence of hop channels: monitoring bythe scanner device the selected hop channel for receipt of a pagingmessage from the paging device during the present phase; andestablishing by the scanner device a connection from the scanner deviceto the paging device in response to receipt of the paging message. 5.The method of claim 4, wherein the number of hop channels in thedesignated portion of the sequence of hop channels is the same for thescanner device and the paging device.
 6. A communication device for usein a channel hopping communication system that includes a sequence ofhop channels and a paging device, the communication device comprising: ahop selection circuit within the communication device configured torepeatedly activate the communication device and to select a hop channelfrom the sequence of hop channels as a function of a present phase whenthe communication device is activated; a hop substitution circuit withinthe communication device configured to determine whether the selectedhop channel is a forbidden hop channel, to select a substitute hopchannel from the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel ifthe selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, and to monitor theselected hop channel for receipt of a paging message during the presentphase when the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, whereinthe hop substitution circuit is further operative to compare thecloseness of a value represented by a received paging message and avalue within the communication device, and to decide that the selectedhop channel is a forbidden hop channel when the closeness of thecomparison is outside a threshold range; the hop substitution circuitfurther operative to: monitor interference on the selected hop channeland to decide that the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channelwhen the monitored interference exceeds a threshold value; add theselected hop channel to a set of forbidden hop channels if the selectedhop channel is determined to be a forbidden hop channel; and add achannel that is adjacent to the selected hop channel, to the set offorbidden hop channels if the selected hop channel is determined to be aforbidden hop channel a processor within the communication deviceconfigured to establish a connection from the communication device tothe paging device in response to receipt of the paging message.
 7. Acommunication device for use in a channel hopping communication systemthat includes a sequence of hop channels and a paging device, thecommunication device comprising: a hop selection circuit within thecommunication device configured to repeatedly activate the communicationdevice and to select a hop channel from the sequence of hop channels asa function of a present phase when the communication device isactivated; a hop substitution circuit within the communication deviceconfigured to determine whether the selected hop channel is a forbiddenhop channel, to select a substitute hop channel from the sequence of hopchannels as the selected hop channel if the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel, and to monitor the selected hop channel forreceipt of a paging message during the present phase when the selectedhop channel is a forbidden hop channel, wherein the hop substitutioncircuit is further operative to repetitively select a differentsubstitute hop channel and to determine whether the selected substitutehop channel is forbidden until the selected substitute hop channel isdetermined to be not forbidden; the hop substitution circuit furtheroperative to: monitor interference on the selected hop channel and todecide that the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel when themonitored interference exceeds a threshold value; add the selected hopchannel to a set of forbidden hop channels if the selected hop channelis determined to be a forbidden hop channel; and add a channel that isadjacent to the selected hop channel, to the set of forbidden hopchannels if the selected hop channel is determined to be a forbidden hopchannel a processor within the communication device configured toestablish a connection from the communication device to the pagingdevice in response to receipt of the paging message.
 8. A communicationdevice for use in a channel hopping communication system that includes asequence of hop channels and a paging device, the communication devicecomprising: a hop selection circuit within the communication deviceconfigured to repeatedly activate the communication device and to selecta hop channel from the sequence of hop channels as a function of apresent phase when the communication device is activated; a hopsubstitution circuit within the communication device configured todetermine whether the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel,to select a substitute hop channel from the sequence of hop channels asthe selected hop channel if the selected hop channel is a forbidden hopchannel, and to monitor the selected hop channel for receipt of a pagingmessage during the present phase when the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel, wherein the hop substitution circuit is furtheroperative to compare the selected hop channel to a set of forbidden hopchannels; the hop substitution circuit further operative to: monitorinterference on the selected hop channel and to decide that the selectedhop channel is a forbidden hop channel when the monitored interferenceexceeds a threshold value; add the selected hop channel to a set offorbidden hop channels if the selected hop channel is determined to be aforbidden hop channel; and add a channel that is adjacent to theselected hop channel, to the set of forbidden hop channels if theselected hop channel is determined to be a forbidden hop channel aprocessor within the communication device configured to establish aconnection from the communication device to the paging device inresponse to receipt of the paging message.
 9. The communication deviceof claim 8, wherein the hop substitution circuit is further operative toselect a hop channel from the sequence of hop channels that is notwithin the set of forbidden hop channels.
 10. The communication deviceof claim 8, wherein at least one of the set of forbidden hop channels isassociated with received interference from a source other than thepaging device.
 11. The communication device of claim 8, wherein at leastone of the set of forbidden hop channels is reserved for use by acommunication system that is not the channel hopping communicationsystem.
 12. A communication device for use in a channel hoppingcommunication system that includes a sequence of hop channels and apaging device, the communication device comprising: a hop selectioncircuit within the communication device configured to repeatedlyactivate the communication device and to select a hop channel from thesequence of hop channels as a function of a present phase when thecommunication device is activated; a hop substitution circuit within thecommunication device configured to determine whether the selected hopchannel is a forbidden hop channel, to select a substitute hop channelfrom the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel if theselected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, and to monitor theselected hop channel for receipt of a paging message from a pagingdevice during the present phase when the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel, wherein the substitute hop channel is selectedusing a time-varying parameter and is further operative to form an indexvalue from the time-varying parameter and to select the substitute hopchannel from the sequence of hop channels using the index value, andwherein the hop substitution circuit is further operative to form anindex value from the expression: index value=(the time-varying parametermodulo N)+BASE_VALUE, where N is the number of hop channels in thesequence of hop channels and BASE_VALUE represents an index value of afirst hop channel in the sequence of hop channels; and a processorwithin the communication device configured to establish a connectionfrom the communication device to the paging device in response toreceipt of the paging message.
 13. A communication device for use in achannel hopping communication system that includes a sequence of hopchannels and a paging device, the communication device comprising: a hopselection circuit within the communication device configured torepeatedly activate the communication device and to select a hop channelfrom the sequence of hop channels as a function of a present phase whenthe communication device is activated; a hop substitution circuit withinthe communication device configured to determine whether the selectedhop channel is a forbidden hop channel, to select a substitute hopchannel from the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel ifthe selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, and to monitor theselected hop channel for receipt of a paging message from a pagingdevice during the present phase when the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel; a processor within the communication deviceconfigured to establish a connection from the communication device tothe paging device in response to receipt of the paging message; whereinthe substitute hop channel is selected using a time-varying parameter;wherein the hop substitution circuit is further operative to form anindex value from the time-varying parameter and to select the substitutehop channel from the sequence of hop channels using the index value; andwherein the hop substitution circuit within the communication device isfurther operative to designate one of the hop channels in the sequenceof hop channels as a first hop channel and to select a hop channel thatcorresponds to the index value relative to the first hop channel for useas the substitute hop channel.
 14. The communication device of claim 13wherein the first hop channel is a designated one of the hop channels inthe sequence of hop channels.
 15. A communication device for use in achannel hopping communication system that includes a sequence of hopchannels and a paging device, the communication device comprising: a hopselection circuit within the communication device configured torepeatedly activate the communication device and to select a hop channelfrom the sequence of hop channels as a function of a present phase whenthe communication device is activated; a hop substitution circuit withinthe communication device configured to determine whether the selectedhop channel is a forbidden hop channel, to select a substitute hopchannel from the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel ifthe selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, and to monitor theselected hop channel for receipt of a paging message during the presentphase when the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, whereinthe substitute hop channel is selected by a time-fixed relationshipbetween the forbidden hop channel and the substitute hop channel; thehop substitution circuit further operative to: monitor interference onthe selected hop channel and to decide that the selected hop channel isa forbidden hop channel when the monitored interference exceeds athreshold value; add the selected hop channel to a set of forbidden hopchannels if the selected hop channel is determined to be a forbidden hopchannel; and add a channel that is adjacent to the selected hop channel,to the set of forbidden hop channels if the selected hop channel isdetermined to be a forbidden hop channel a processor within thecommunication device configured to establish a connection from thecommunication device to the paging device in response to receipt of thepaging message.
 16. A communication device for use in a channel hoppingcommunication system that includes a sequence of hop channels and apaging device, the communication device comprising: a hop selectioncircuit within the communication device configured to repeatedlyactivate the communication device and to select a hop channel from thesequence of hop channels as a function of a present phase when thecommunication device is activated; a hop substitution circuit within thecommunication device configured to determine whether the selected hopchannel is a forbidden hop channel, to select a substitute hop channelfrom the sequence of hop channels as the selected hop channel if theselected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, and to monitor theselected hop channel for receipt of a paging message during the presentphase when the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel, whereinthe hop substitution circuit is further operative to designate a portionof the sequence of hop channels adjacent to a forbidden hop channel, andto select a substitute hop channel from the designated portion of thesequence of hop channels; and a processor within the communicationdevice configured to establish a connection from the communicationdevice to the paging device in response to receipt of the pagingmessage.
 17. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the number ofhop channels in the designated portion of the sequence of hop channelsis the same for the communication device and the paging device.
 18. Acommunication device for use in a channel hopping communication systemthat includes a sequence of hop channels and a paging device, thecommunication device comprising: a hop selection circuit within thecommunication device configured to repeatedly activate the communicationdevice and to select a hop channel from the sequence of hop channels asa function of a present phase when the communication device isactivated; a hop substitution circuit within the communication deviceconfigured to determine whether the selected hop channel is a forbiddenhop channel, to select a substitute hop channel from the sequence of hopchannels as the selected hop channel if the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel, and to monitor the selected hop channel forreceipt of a paging message during the present phase when the selectedhop channel is a forbidden hop channel, wherein the substitute hopchannel is the hop channel preceding said forbidden hop channel in saidsequence of hop channels; the hop substitution circuit further operativeto: monitor interference on the selected hop channel and to decide thatthe selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel when the monitoredinterference exceeds a threshold value; add the selected hop channel toa set of forbidden hop channels if the selected hop channel isdetermined to be a forbidden hop channel; and add a channel that isadjacent to the selected hop channel, to the set of forbidden hopchannels if the selected hop channel is determined to be a forbidden hopchannel a processor within the communication device configured toestablish a connection from the communication device to the pagingdevice in response to receipt of the paging message.
 19. A communicationdevice for use in a channel hopping communication system that includes asequence of hop channels and a paging device, the communication devicecomprising: a hop selection circuit within the communication deviceconfigured to repeatedly activate the communication device and to selecta hop channel from the sequence of hop channels as a function of apresent phase when the communication device is activated; a hopsubstitution circuit within the communication device configured todetermine whether the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel,to select a substitute hop channel from the seguence of hop channels asthe selected hop channel if the selected hop channel is a forbidden hopchannel, and to monitor the selected hop channel for receipt of a pagingmessage during the present phase when the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel, wherein the substitute hop channel is selectedusing a time varying parameter; the hop substitution circuit furtheroperative to: monitor interference on the selected hop channel and todecide that the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel when themonitored interference exceeds a threshold value; add the selected hopchannel to a set of forbidden hop channels if the selected hop channelis determined to be a forbidden hop channel; and add a channel that isadjacent to the selected hop channel, to the set of forbidden hopchannels if the selected hop channel is determined to be a forbidden hopchannel a processor within the communication device configured toestablish a connection from the communication device to the pagingdevice in response to receipt of the paging message.
 20. A communicationdevice for use in a channel hopping communication system that includes asequence of hop channels and a paging device, the communication devicecomprising: a hop selection circuit within the communication deviceconfigured to repeatedly activate the communication device and to selecta hop channel from the sequence of hop channels as a function of apresent phase when the communication device is activated; a hopsubstitution circuit within the communication device configured todetermine whether the selected hop channel is a forbidden hop channel,to select a substitute hop channel from the sequence of hop channels asthe selected hop channel if the selected hop channel is a forbidden hopchannel, and to monitor the selected hop channel for receipt of a pagingmessage during the present phase when the selected hop channel is aforbidden hop channel, wherein the hop substitution circuit is furtheroperative to repetitively select a different substitute hop channel andto determine whether the selected substitute hop channel is forbiddenuntil the selected hop channel is determined to be not forbidden; thehop substitution circuit further operative to: monitor interference onthe selected hop channel and to decide that the selected hop channel isa forbidden hop channel when the monitored interference exceeds athreshold value; add the selected hop channel to a set of forbidden hopchannels if the selected hop channel is determined to be a forbidden hopchannel; and add a channel that is adjacent to the selected hop channel,to the set of forbidden hop channels if the selected hop channel isdetermined to be a forbidden hop channel a processor within thecommunication device configured to establish a connection from thecommunication device to the paging device in response to receipt of thepaging message.